Here it is, the long awaited sequel to “Life of an Artist”. One year on, L’Artiste is still saddened that his art wasn’t perceived that well last time. Remember he threw his tunic in an act of despair at the end of the original film? Obviously, Skeleton picked it up and kept it for him in her closet all this time. Now she thought it was about time for L’Artiste to snap out of it. Surprisingly, once he slipped back into his tunic, he regained his confidence (I wish I had a magic tunic like this :) But what am I saying to you… watch the film.
Archives for category: Fun
Finally I got round to attend to my Dedes and I made good progress on the sequel to “Life of an Artist”. I can tell you as much: Skeleton felt sorry for poor L’Artiste who was still stitting in the corner crying. She brought him his tunic back and convinced him to have another go. For the rest of the story you have to wait… I hope I will have the film finished by tomorrow.
I though I’d share this page from the Artstation Term 2 Programme with you. It promotes my upcoming course. Kit Lawrence, the photographer, has captured the essence of my art extremely well. Being a puppet artist suits me to a T. I love being in the background and happy for the puppets to have the limelight. They are such amazing creative tools. To be honest, the only difference between an object and a puppet is imagination. For me personally, having a sound imagination is extremly helpful in navigating modern life.
It is Easter again. It is around this time of the year it’s most noticeable to me that I have moved from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern. The weather is pretty much the same in both countries, but Germany is now moving towards the warm summer months and Easter marks the end of the cold, while here in New Zealand we start to batten down the hatches for winter. Last year at Easter I made my first stop motion film with the Dedes. It was a spur of the moment piece about the life of an artist. I have been wondering for a while if it is time for a remake. Nothing much has changed. A year, though, is not long enough really to justify a remake, or is it? Maybe I’ll make a sequel!
Here is the original.
Looking back even further, two years ago I created this sequence of images for the blog. Not a film yet, but it is clearly pointing towards film making :)
What the heck. I am currently trying new things. Nothing really for public viewing yet…. but I uploaded my first Munch & Kin trial as an unlisted clip to youtube. Just to show the people I am working with what the puppets can do. There are lots of things I haven’t sussed yet. For example the backdrop of the theatre. I used a triple folded net curtain. I hoped it would hide the puppeteer completely while the puppeteer on the other hand would see the puppets while working. Unfortunately you still can make out a shadow, while I couldn’t see a thing and therefore the puppets move pretty awkwardly. I had no idea which way they were facing. Also they don’t have their final dresses yet and I had to finger my way through copious amounts of material that I had fixed in a make-shift way to their handles. So to sum it up, it was a disaster really, nevertheless I do like the expression on their faces. And this is the most important bit, everything else I can learn or solve.
I was so itching to get back to puppet making and spend all weekend to create puppets for a project that will advocate good nutrition. Here it was important to me, that the puppets could open their mouths, but they also should show their relationship with the Dedes. In this photograph I photoshopped two images of the same puppet together, to show it with the mouth open and closed. However, here the mouth is propped open with a aluminium tube, which I originally wanted to use. It runs inside the handle. But when the puppet was finished, I discovered, when I shake it in a certain way, the mouth opens and closes without the help of the tube and I only need one hand. So I can work two puppets at once. It is amazing how plans always change.
Today I am quite down. I slept very poorly after yesterday. The interview didn’t go as I expected and I have the feeling I didn’t handle my latest project very well. Now that it is finished and I have had a bit of a breather, I realise that I was once again steaming ahead on a totally different track from all the others involved. Ah well, I guess that is the reason why I will stay a poor artist forever. In the meantime I have placed my busking penguin permanently in the corner of our staircase, hoping he will collect some change. Surprisingly he has… all those loose coins are from when we do the washing. Of course the corner of our steps is not a very public place so there is not much traffic for donations. Wrong decision again! Maybe I should place him at the garden gate, next to the letter box. But then, we live in suburbia… I don’t think it will make much of a difference.
Last Saturday we had another Dede Workshop where we created an impromptu film. Impromputu in the sense that the people who attended had to come up with a story. The only hint they have are the puppets I select prior to the participants arriving. No Devil this time! He is on his well-deserved holiday. Instead we had a pretty classic Punch & Judy cast, bar Punch and Judy. Without Devil it took the participants a while to come up with the story, but once they started acting it out, the storyline got fast and furious. If you can’t follow it entirely… don’t worry, you can trust me, there was a happy ending. Nasty Cool Cat has been imprisoned by Bobby the policeman and King and Chamber Maid live to this day.
Unlike the previous films, this one needed a little explanation at the beginning. My friend Cath and I are now wondering if we should adapt the story for a live puppet show.
Hope you enjoy it.
I don’t know if I have already mentioned, that I have been assigned to judge the inaugural scarecrow competition at the community garden here in Beach Haven tomorrow. This will be a very busy day for me. I have to go to the garden to look at all the entries, then I have to come back home to run a Dede workshop and back to the garden to announce the winner.
The community garden is relatively new and as it is with such groups, money is an always short. So, I decided to reinvigorate one of my favourite prizes I awarded at many occasions while still studying. Take one bayleaf, spray paint with metalic gold (donated by the artschool) and put in a nice looking but cheap frame from the bargain bin. I wanted to have a leaf in gold, silver and bronze. Unfortunately there were only cans in gold, silver and red. Never mind, red is a nice colour too. The local chocolate shop has also donated four boxes of chocolates. I hope the scarecrows will be happy and the weather gods are favourable.
dedepuppets 